The prior art literature is replete with examples of aminosaccharide derivatives. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,879,376 and 3,953,608 disclose the reaction of saturated or unsaturated diacid anhydrides so as to produce acylated derivatives.
Amine-containing polysaccharides, including monoaminosaccharide, may be reductively alkylated with various aldehyde or keto compounds to convert the amine group via a covalent bond to a .dbd.CH-- or --CH.sub.2 -- linkage as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,346. U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,995 is directed to the preparation of aminosaccharide derivatives in which carboxymethyl substituents are introduced on some of the amino and hydroxy sites of the aminosaccharide units.
Quaternary hydroxyalkyl-substituted aminosaccharide derivatives useful as cosmetic compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,772,689, 4,822,598, 4,835,266 and 4,976,952. U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,908 discloses the preparation of aminosaccharide pyrithione and states that such compound possesses anti-microbial activity.
European Patent 0400364 describes the preparation of aminosaccharide derivatives wherein the amino groups are converted to quaternary ammonium salts. Dithiocarbamates of aminosaccharide, claimed to be effective chelating agents, are disclosed in Carbohydrate Research, 104, (1982) 235-243. A wide variety of aminosaccharide derivatives and their potential application applications are described in Carbohydrate Polymers, 3, (1983) 53-75.
Despite the voluminous literature describing a wide array of aminosaccharide derivatives, there appears to be only one prior art reference which bears any relevance to the present invention. Japanese Kokai 60233102 discloses the preparation of an aminosaccharide biguanide acid salt by reacting monoaminosaccharide with dicyandiamide. However, the structure and properties of the resultant aminosaccharide biguanide acid salt differ markedly from the structures and properties of the aminosaccharide biguanides of the present invention. In particular, the aminosaccharide biguanides of the present invention possess properties not mentioned in any prior art teachings as being associated with aminosaccharide derivatives.